This invention relates to a belt type garment for carrying tennis balls and the like.
In the playing of tennis it is well known and is desirable for each player to have a least two balls available when serving. Since the player has two serves, it is desirable not to interrupt or delay play of the game waiting for ball retrieval and accordingly most players either hold a spare ball (or balls), in the pockets of tennis shorts, dresses, or skirts. Unfortunately, the pockets in these garments are not usually designed for the storage of tennis balls and when so used can be a source of irritation to the player often spoiling his or her concentration and sometimes damaging their clothing as well due to stress on sewn seams. The prior art shows devices of the belt type or clip on type that have been proposed and utilized in the past but none appear to have been commercially successful. Some devices were cumbersome to don, others were irritating to wear, some, it appeared could even be injurious to the wearer in an accidental fall or errant stroke. Still other devices while suitable for the task were sized to carry more balls than the player actually uses in the game of tennis thus making it ungainly for use by female or children players while in the converse, other devices were singular in capacity and required one device for each ball stowed. Finally, no device so far proposed it appears has been through its novelty able to induce its use on a wide scale.
The following listed patents are considered to be the most relevant with regard to the prior art on the subject:
______________________________________ PAT. NO. Inventor Issue Date ______________________________________ U.S. 1,648,565 Primley November 8, 1927 British 326,425 Wachow et al March 13, 1930 U.S. 2,074,180 Hatley March 16, 1937 U.S. 2,508,190 Previdi May 16, 1950 U.S. 2,708,061 Kotchka May 10, 1955 French 1,294,937 Bessieres April 24, 1962 U.S. 3,601,815 Strehlan August 31, 1971 U.S. 3,768,709 Kinard October 30, 1973 U.S. 3,865,290 Sperling February 11, 1975 U.S. 4,042,156 Knight August 16, 1977 U.S. 4,079,871 Sica March 21, 1978 ______________________________________